Wellington rallies past Plant City to first state title game

Wellington freshman Cat Glenn lays down a bunt that would score Kate Desimone with the go-ahead run in the fifth inning of Friday's Class 8A softball semifinal at Historic Dodgertown.

Wellington freshman Cat Glenn lays down a bunt that would score Kate Desimone with the go-ahead run in the fifth inning of Friday's Class 8A softball semifinal at Historic Dodgertown. (Carl Kotala/Courtesy)

Wellington will play for its first state softball championship Saturday. The Class 8A Wolverines took care of that Friday by coming back from a one-run deficit to defeat Plant City 6-1 at Historic Dodgertown.

Wellington will play Orange Park Oakleaf, a 10-0 winner over St. Thomas Aquinas, on Saturday at 5:35 p.m.

“Oh my God, this is awesome,” Wellington sophomore Katie Schmidt said. “This is what we all worked so hard for. At the beginning of the year, we had no expectations. We just came out, we got so far and we wanted to do something for our school.”

Schmidt certainly did her part, driving in the tying run in the fourth inning and then hitting a two-run double in a five-run fifth inning that saw the Wolverines break the game open.

“I went up there and I was just (thinking) I need to get something started,” Schmidt said. “We needed to start something. We were kind of dead in the beginning. I was like, ‘I want to start something for our team this time.’”

What Schmidt started, Kate Desimone finished.

The freshman pitcher struck out six and gave up four hits to help the Wolverines to an historic victory.

“It’s crazy,” Desimone said. “I never expected this to ever happen, and now we’re going to the championship game. We were happy just to be here today.”

As well as she pitched, it was Desimone who brought the Wellington crowd to a roar, racing home on a bunt by Cat Glenn to score the go-ahead run.

After Plant City took a 1-0 lead in the second, Wellington coach Mark Boretti said he had one message for his team.

“I just tried to tell them, ‘loosen up, loosen up,’” Boretti said. “We got the one run (in the fourth) but that next inning was the big one. We put some runs on the board and we did, we played loose.

“We did a little small ball, and I’m not a small ball guy, but we did it and it worked. We got some runs and now we go to the championship (game), the first time ever for Wellington High School.”

Two Class 8A high school softball teams out of South Florida, Wellington and St. Thomas Aquinas, played semifinal games Friday in the 2017 FHSAA championship tournament at Historic Dodgertown. Also in contention in Vero Beach on Friday were defending state champions Coral Springs Charter, in Class 4A action, and American Heritage in 6A.